Rome had become the court of appeal for the bishops from an early period. This was a most politic arrangement of the Pope. But, to prevent inconvenience to himself, Urban IV. created Ursarius inquisitor-general, A.D. 1265. This office was continued, with some intermissions, until the Reformation under Luther. The doctrines of that great man were disseminated so extensively in Italy, as well as Germany, that the Romish court became alarmed. Pope Clement VII., therefore, ordered that the utmost rigour should be used against all who professed the doctrines of the reformer; and, as their number appeared to increase, exhibiting the utmost boldness, patience, and zeal, Paul III., A.D. 1543, constituted the “Holy Office” with more extended powers, appointing six cardinals as “inquisitors-general.” To these cardinals were added a “commissary-general,” always to be a Dominican; an “assessor-general,” and the “master of the sacred palace.” This court was carried on with magnificence and ceremony suited to the grandees who composed it; and on certain occasions the Pope presided in person. By its dreadful operations the doctrines of the reformers were suppressed, and its professors exterminated from Italy.
Venice received the Inquisition about A.D. 1249, while the contests were being carried on between the Pope and the Emperor. Many persons of different opinions, and, perhaps, under several denominations, fled to Venice, to live in the greater security and quiet of that famous city; but the magistrates, being excited to prevent their city from being polluted by foreign doctrines, chose certain grave persons, zealous for the Catholic faith, to inquire after heretics. Full power was given to the patriarch of Grado, and other Venetian bishops, to judge of those opinions; and it was decreed that whosoever was pronounced an heretic by any bishop should be condemned to the fire. In this process, secular judges made inquisition against heretics, and the duke and senators pronounced the fatal sentence.
Father Paul states, “Notwithstanding the instant requests of Pope Innocent, Alexander, Urban, Clement, and seven other Popes, their successors, the most renowned commonwealth could never be persuaded to receive the office of the friar inquisitors, instituted by the Pope. The secular sufficed it, instituted by itself, and brought forth good fruit for God’s service.”
Nicholas IV., a minor friar, being exalted to the pontifical throne, got the Inquisition to be received by a public decree at Venice, A.D. 1289. Still, this court was established on different principles from those which govern it in other countries; for while the judgment concerning the doctrine for which a person may be pronounced an heretic, is determined by ecclesiastics, the judgment of the fact, or who maintains that doctrine, and the pronouncing of the sentence, are held to belong to the secular judges in Venice. So that they determine what books shall be prohibited, as well as who are heretics, and their court is far milder, and less under the influence of the Pope, than the other inquisitions in Italy.
Among the heretics accused by the inquisitors, there were some forming a sect called apostolics, from their professing to imitate the zeal of the apostles of Christ. They attracted the notice of Pope Honorius, A.D. 1290. Sagarelli, their leader, was condemned by the Inquisition and burned. Dulcinus, another of their teachers, withdrew, with about six thousand adherents, to the valleys of the Alps; but Pope Clement V. sent inquisitors to seek them with an army of crusaders, by which many were driven among the mountains, and perished with cold and hunger. Some of them were captured, including Dulcinus and his wife, who were sacrificed at the stake, as victims to the cruelty of their antichristian persecutors.
Clement V., jealous of the Knights Templars, who possessed large property in France, gladly listened to the accusations against them by the king. Their grand-master, De Molai, and many others, therefore, were arrested, A.D. 1307. The order was abolished in the council held at Vienne, A.D. 1311, and nearly sixty of the prisoners were condemned and burnt. Several others were brought to the stake in Paris, where they protested their innocence; but their property was shared by Pope Clement and Philip, king of France.
Others of the reputed heretics were Beghards, so called from their ardour in prayer; Beguins, pious females of that society; and Lollards, so named from their singing psalms in social worship. These were hunted in several provinces, and punished in the usual manner by the officers of the Inquisition as enemies of the Pope. Some of the Beguins were patronised by persons of distinction; and a famous controversy arose respecting their opinions regarding the possession of property. Four of their leading men were burnt at Marseilles, A.D. 1318; and they were condemned as heretics and arch-heretics by the Pope, A.D. 1329.
Lombardy received the Inquisition before A.D. 1233, when Pope Gregory IX. appointed, as chief-inquisitor, Pietro da Verona, a Dominican. He was the first that put heretics to death at Milan. In the course of his ministry he burnt many, but he was assassinated, A.D. 1252; and another fell a sacrifice to his own cruelty, Pagano da Lecco, A.D. 1277.
About A.D. 1320, the Pope excommunicated Matthew Galeacius, viscount of Milan, his sons, and followers. The city was deprived of its charter, and all its municipal privileges; the citizens, who might favour the viscount, were given up to be seized by the faithful as slaves, in full right, and their property was granted to any who might lay hold of it. All who should supply the city with provisions were in like manner denounced; and this state of things continued during three years, in which the viscount set at nought the papal censures. With a view to humble him, the Pope, John XXII., prosecuted the viscount for heresy; and, after several citations, pronounced the definite sentence against him. The Pope also commanded Aycard, the archbishop of Milan, and the inquisitors in Lombardy, to proceed against him and his adherents; and the bishop of Padua and two abbots published these sentences.
Raymond Cardonus was ordered to collect an army to invade his dominions. Several cities were taken, and the viscount routed; when the senate of Milan sent a deputation of twelve of their elders to implore peace and absolution. Matthew resigned his principality to his son Galeacius, and himself repairing to the cathedral, protested, with a solemn oath, against the Pope’s legate as having treated him unjustly. He left the city, and made the same oath next day in the church of Monza, where he died of fever, through grief. His sons buried him, but his body was sought for to be burned, by order of the cardinal-legate and the inquisitors.